Century Galil Recall

[Sayeret Shaldag]

Could a slam fire also possibly occur if a round with a soft primer is chambered and the weapon is dropped? I guess that would be an in-battery slam fire? Oswald and Bayner good explanations. I can explain this concept better now.

I remember PBB saying something about how the bolt could be modded. I have an IMI SLFP bolt and it is almost identical to a non SLFP bolt. The cavity for the FP is just wider to accomodate the spring and the FP is different. Whould Century not just try to take the cheapest way out to preserve their margins and try modding the bolts?

I don't get it though many IMI Galils were sold in the US without the SLFP I never heard of IMI, Action Arms, or Magnum Research getting sued or having issues. I also have never read of any recalls on bolts they ever did. Oswald you would know cause you bought yours way back. Did Action Arms or Magnum Res. ever issue a recall on bolts because of slam fires? I know the bolts were switched the the SLFP bolts in later models, but were the old bolts recalled? I don't think so, but I am no expert.

If you are having your build done by a pro like PBB or AZEX with an uncut IMI barrel and IMI non SLFP bolt are you ok? I would like to think so.

For reloading are hard primers military grade primers not available I can't remember?

 

[panaceabeachbum]

I think the slam fire excuse is simply that, an excuse , nobody in their right mind would machine an entirely new bolt and go thru all the headaches af headspacing when you could take the existing bolts , enlarge the firing pin recess and have some $6 firing pins machined to drop right in. There is more to the story than they are letting on. If they are going to the expense of having some $75+ bolts machined and hand fitted you can bet it has nothing to do with a sprin loaded firing pin issue. I still bet its the one bolt lug not making contact issue mentioned in at least two threads here and in the shotgun news galil build article. I did read on the ar15 sight a couple of months ago about a rifle that was making contact only on one lug and the bolt ended up cracking right behind the head were it gets thin.

A spring loaded firing pin issue could be resolved in bulk for less than $15 per rifle. If its the lug contact issue it probably would be cheaper to make new bolts than tear the rifles down , grind existing bolts , install new bbls since the original gas ports wouldnt line up headspace and so on.

I have fired thousands of rounds of comercial ammo and not had a single slam fire

 

[Sayeret Shaldag]

Just as I expected. PBB thanks for the response. Yeah I have never heard of you complain of a slam fire issue and I know you would have posted on it had that happened. PBB I have visited your site several times, but I am unclear do you do gunsmithing and builds for customers too or just for your self? I did see you are planning on selling two of those Lakside 1919s. Man I wish I could afford one.

Anyway, I know the problem has to be more significant than they are letting on.

 

[Oswald2001]

Slam fires can and do occur, but, they are rare with Galils.

In the 'sue happy' atmosphere of the US, the prospect of slam fires could be enough to get a company to do a recall.

There might well be more to the story and I wouldn't put it past Century to BS us, but, the expense of a recall can quite easily be much much less than a successful lawsuit against them. Even if they 'win' a lawsuit, the legal costs and hassle can be enormous. Not to mention that further Galil sales would suffer or Century would have to cease selling them immediately until the end of the lawsuit. And afterwards, the Century Galils would be forever tainted.

Of course, in the US, lawsuits don't even have to be founded in anything sane. Remember the case where McDonald's lost a law suit because their coffee was supposedly too hot, the customer spilled the coffee and sued?

The slam fire danger with Galil bolts is a well known danger that was corrected decades ago. Century 'knows or should have known' all about the danger of floating firing pin bolts in Galils when firing ammo with commercial primers.

I can't see where Century would have any effective defense against a lawsuit brought due to damages from a floating firing pin bolt.





Has Century sold a bunch of AK's with floating firing pin bolts?

If so, this might give us a hint as to the true nature of the recall.

 

[panaceabeachbum]

Yes Century has sold thousands of aks with floating firing pins, no spring and no recall that I know of. I have two yugos and a romanian sold by century with no spring for the firing pin

 

[panaceabeachbum]

PBB I have visited your site several times, but I am unclear do you do gunsmithing and builds for customers too or just for your self? I did see you are planning on selling two of those Lakside 1919s. Man I wish I could afford one.

I mostly just do machine work and rapid prototyping work for a couple of larger manufacturers. Mostly just help make jigs write procedures etc and make one or two off prototypes of diff ideas , eaiser to pay me than shut down a profitable machine to make one or two oddball items.
I have been involved in building semi firearms from demilled mg parts sets and submitting to tech branch for another company for the past couple of years that hopefully will be bringing some really neat stuff to market this coming year. amazing how long something that seems so simple takes to get to market.

I dont take on much outside work unless its something that intrest me at the time. I am obsessed with the little tippmans/lakeside 22s currently and doing some of the machine work and engraving for folks that have bought those kits.

 

[SA58]

Hmm... I wonder why you don't generally hear about it happening in things like AR's or Mini-14's... none of those use a spring loaded firing pin.

 

[galilian]

Just spoke to the young lady @ Century and the recall does, in fact, cover the stovepiping / case crushing / misfead situation and is apparently rectified by the replacement bolt, firing pin spring and general inspection / retrofit. I'm not asure why that would cause it to try to pick up a new round before round one is outa there, but hey, I'm not a firearms engineer. They happily gave me a Return Autho number and they are mailing me a UPS return tag so it shouldn't cost me anything. Surely hope that this works. Now if only I can find some way to get that 1913 rail up on top somewhere soz I can mount, say, a Leupold CBQ sight!

 

[Oswald2001]

Could a slam fire also possibly occur if a round with a soft primer is chambered and the weapon is dropped? I guess that would be an in-battery slam fire?

I believe that could occur. Theoretically.

If the rifle was dropped from high enough, oriented just right and onto a hard surface.

 

[Bayner]

Just want to drop a note to the topic.....all primer cups manufactured are the same with regard to metallurgy, what is actually different is the chemical makeup of the active compands in the primer itself that dictates detonation.

This is direct from WCC/Winchester......so there is the "Hard Primer" wordage but they are actually referring what's going to detonate and what pressure/lbs on strike versus what the primer cup thickness is as they are the same primer cup.

All IMI ammo is made using Winchester brass and primers!

Oh I forgot to mention....Century says they are actually going to put new bolts with SLPF's into each...so hopefully someone will get a picture up here......I also mentioned to them about the FTE/FTF issues and how to correct these.....and yes the Golani is being made by them in Vermont!

 

[OPinOKC]

I spoke to a colleague today who teaches product liability law and consults with companies about limiting their liability exposure, but who doesn't deal with firearms manufacturers, about the Century recall. Here's what I learned: if there's a defect which could cause injuries, and Century knows about it, they have an "affirmative obligation" to notify owners, typically by registered letter. Postings in on-line forums, ads in magazines, etc. are not sufficient notification to avoid lawsuits. Even the registered letters are not sufficient to avoid lawsuits, although they would make such suits harder for plaintiffs to win.

My take on this is that Century would have a real problem finding owners, but they would at least have to notify their wholesalers, who would have to notify retailers, who would have to notify customers.

If the problem is safety, Century would be risking their company not to diligently start notification. It'll be interesting to see what Century does.

O.P.

 

[Zacklane]

I called also, I didn't have my Ser No. on hand but I will be sending both of mine in. I will keep you posted on how it goes.

 

[GunTech]

Talked to Century yesterday. They are saying 2-4 weeks to retrofit the Galils.

 

[AFF]

I'm new to this forum but I have had similar issues with my Century build. Bad headspacing, gas port to big on barrel, and a bad barrel that shoots nice groups about 2-4 inches left. My barrel was not torqued properly and only required a slight twist to undo along with flash hider. Not even bothering with Century to fix these issues. First trip to the range I had a case seperate(WWB) and a few FTE(mainly with wolf). I guess it is 50/50 with these guys. I'm having it converted to SAR with a new IMI barrel.

 

[panaceabeachbum]

well I looked at a galil last night that is not in the serial number range listed in the recall and it has no spring loaded firing pin , the owner called and was told by century not to send it in so I think the spring loaded firing pin excuse is pretty much out

 

[Oswald2001]

well I looked at a galil last night that is not in the serial number range listed in the recall and it has no spring loaded firing pin , the owner called and was told by century not to send it in so I think the spring loaded firing pin excuse is pretty much out

Yeah. Looks like your suspicions were correct from the start.


There are about eleventy Bazillion AK's around the US. Of every caliber, age, nationality, etc. Factory built, smith built, home built, welds, rivits, screws.

There is no 'dangerous free floating firing pin' buzz anywhere around the AK community that I could find. And the AK community is HUGE.

 

[N4KVE]

GALIL RECALL

Found out some interesting news at the Miami Gun Show this weekend. My smith who usually doesn't attend Miami said Century called him last year to ask if he wanted to assemble some Galils. He asked who will make the receiver, & like a politician they answered "US made". He replied "What is the name of the US company making these receivers"? When they replied ORF he politely declined. In other words someone else is assembling them. Century's whole factory is busy doing AK's. Not bashing ORF but their receivers have gotten better since then. My Galil shoots great so I am keeping it, but I am having my smith fix the lug issue, not Century. Does anyone know the ser # range of recalled guns? He's not changing the firing pin, just addressing the lug & hardness issues. Opinion wise, should I have him shorten the bbl to 16" while he has the rifle? He's very experienced with this type of work, & the gun will be perfect when he's done. It shoots fine now. Like I read here, the gun is an assembled parts kit, soon to be perfect. Anyone got their guns back from century yet? GARY N4KVE

 

[GunTech]

Stll waiting on my Galil. Week three since Century got it.

According to my sources, Century doesn't make anything. They farm out all their guns to subcontractors. Why else would they need a marking variance from ATF?

 

[AKToday]

Century finally has the recall notice with serial # ranges on their wesite (www.centuryarms.com).

 

[jetskrtal]

CENTURY INTERNATIONAL ARMS, INC.
236 Bryce Boulevard
Fairfax, Vermont, U.S.A. 05454
Tel: (802) 527-1252 Fax: (802) 527-5631
Date: August 29, 2007
Subject: Galil and/or Golani Semi-Auto Sporter Rifle
We are requesting that customers who purchased the Galil and/or Golani Semi-Auto
Sporter that have serial numbers between GAL00001 and GAL02393 send in their
firearm to us as we have modified the bolt and are installing a new firing pin and firing
pin spring to ensure that your Golani offers you the utmost safety and reliability. All Galil
and/or Golani rifles that have the letter "F" or "X" on the bottom of the receiver front cut
off have already been upgraded and your rifle does not need to be sent in to us.If you
are a dealer, please provide us with the names, addresses and contact information of
the purchasers of these Galil/Golani rifles. We will contact them directly. If you are
contacted by these customers, please have them call us at 1-800-270-2767 to obtain a
return authorization. We appreciate your cooperation in this matter and hope to have
this situation resolved as quickly as possible.